FARM AND STATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9332, 5 October 1910, Page 6

FARM AND STATION.

(Specially Compiled for the "Standard.") Government valuers —Some of their peculiar methods —A surprise for a settler—Farming in Germany—A touring party of Freetraders—An interesting and instructive visit —Splendid unifor,: . mity of crops—pigs in demand—probable big inquiry for frozen tle in United States—Prices will, probably remain high— of dear land —Ranchmen displaced by farmers — Dearness of maize a possible factor— Californian Jhistle —A Southland farmer's method of extermination —Detailed particulars—Effect of - ploughing —Land hunger—Some .contributing causes —What is going on in Waikato —Not- fs>.rminir. but speculating. Tho following typical case of the' irfethods sometimes pursued by Government valuers was related to tiie correspondent of a northern contemporary. The official rode up to the farmer's house, but found the farmer absent. He then went down to the milking shed and yarned awhile with the farmer's son. He asked for no information and never looked over the farm, and finally rode off. again. A month later the farmer received a notification that his land had been valued at £5 per acre more than he estimated it would be worth. And now the fallacy of valuations was proved by an unexpected move on the part of the farmer. He straightway applied for a loan from the Government, on their own valuations. Needless to say, he did not get it, the utmost they would allow him being only two-thirds of the value- appraised. Yet he is being rated and taxed on tho State valuation. The following interesting item is from a letter received from England by a resident of Southland. Large parties of working men are being sent to Germany with the view of opening their eyes to the conditions of the working classes in that country. On this occasion there were forty-eight in the party, the majority Freetraders, drawn from tho various Labouif organisations in and about London. They visited Antwerp, Brussels, Cologne, Essen, Berlin, Dresden, Leipsic, Chemnitz, Frankfort, and Dusseldorf, travelling fully 1800 miles. "I am safe in sa3 r ing," adds the writer, ' "I did hot see a hundred acres of in- « differently tilled land in all that area. The splendid uniformity of the crops gave one the impression that each seed had been planted with a dibble, and the ground was as excellently worked as a well-kept kitchen garden. In this respcct the farms are a quarter of a century ahead of us, and the most of our party returned converted to Protection." A Home buyer who was recently in Taranaki informed the Eltham paper that he was prepared to contract for the purchase of ten thousand pigs. He said that if the farmers can once organise so as to provide large supplies there would be an enormous demand for New Zealand frozen pork. A high authority on live stock in the United States gives reasons for believing that cattle, especially 1 good grades, will remain high in price, or may go still higher. East of Missouri river, he says, farmers cannot profitably produce live stock on their high-priced lands. and what calves thev produce they sell west of the Mississipi. He adds: Many moro cattle might be raised if it wore not for the action of the Government. .There are millions of acres that are unfit for any purpose other than that of stockraising, as the land can never be irrigated. Yet the ranchmen have been compelled to pull down their fences to make room for farmers. But it may be suggested that the dearness of maize for the last three years has had more effect in making cattle scarce than any other cause. If maize becomes cheap again, even small farmers may find it profitable to breed and fatten cattle. Many and various ■ are the methods advocated for the extermination of that pest, the' Californian thistle. A farmer down Southland way has been waging war on them, and states that he has had considerable success. His method is to take a crop of turnips the first summer after breaking out of lea. But no attempt is made to kill the thistles that season. The land is then ploughed, say, to a depth of four or five inches, as the turnips are eaten off and wither. He disc ploughs the land six times that season, each time to a depth of about three inches, beginning in November, then again in December, and twice in January, once in February, and again in March. The thistle is allowed to get up two or three inches above the ground before each disc-skimming. Then sow down with srass and clover. In thq middle of March apply two hundredweight per acre of a mixture of bonedust and guano. This plan leaves the land rich for grass. The result of this treatment has been a complete annihilation of the thistle and a sale of grass the finest one could wish to see. Where the thistles were the strongest the grass is greenest, presumably from the nitrogen taken into the subsoil by their deep roots. From the increased stockcarrying capacity the thistle paddocks have" paid well for the work put on them. The paddock has now been two summers in grass, and there is not a sign of a thistle yet, except some that are spreading on the head-land from the fences. The writer goes on to say: We arc using a four-disc skimming plough this season. The discs are 22 inches through. It is just like any ordinary disc plough. It is a rocomrnendable implement, and four-horses can work it. at a depth of three inches, and do Jive or six acres easily in a day. and take a width _of three feet. We have found it more important to get over the ground quickly and often than to work the' land very deep. Deep working is rather a disadvantage, for the reason that fresh roots of tho thistle, brought up about February or March, arc apt to grow when brought to the surfacc. It is very important to attend well to the skimming of the thistles from New Year until March. Writes a correspondent: "Few farmers are farmers now. They arc merely land.-clearers and liousc-builders. They might be called land-improvers, but the ; title would be erroneous, for many of i these people know as little of tho true j methods of farming as do the 'planting' people. The good settlers, those who are without, large capital, must go back from the older towns to new districts to obtain land at a reasonable figure. All desirable lands, near townships. are taken up for ten miles round. The occasional subdivision of large estates enables small settlers, now and again, to get improved second-class land, suitable for dairying, at from £10 an acre, with- , in, say, two or three miles of a creamery or store." The amount of shuffling and changing from one farm to another that is going on in the North has varying and opposite effects. It inevitably increases values, and that at a much, greater rate than they would otherwise increase. It creates openings for new settlers to obtain improved farms-near towns that they otherwise rvvould not have, and it keeps alive the land hunger alluded to by the Minister for Agriculture, for the ; seller of land or speculator \will con- i stantly look for virgin areas to improve and sell again. This sort, of "improving"—clearing the scrub, fencing, laying down in grass, and building a "shanty" for a house, has become a sort of trade with a percentage of settlers —if settlers they can be called._ The land agents, of whom there are said to be sixty now in ; business in Hamilton, find the constant [ selling of farms profitable, but they earnestly strike to keep down values, as big values retard sales. Here and there we hear of a syndicate of four or five , settlers buying a large_ farm and cutting j it up into small sections for their in- 1 dividual selves. The State provides .tho cash at about 4 per cent., where enough.men can agree to purchase an estate on their lines. Two lots of land have been i sold on these terms near Hamilton, but • it is a very difficult matter to find four I or five individuals _ unanimously in fayour of one particular area, so _ this method of acquiring land is not.likely to become very general.